The Beginning of the Middle

All right. Let's give you an idea of all the backyard excitement that is keeping my husband outside, even in this terribly cold and rainy weather. And while it's true that he is doing all the work, I'm still the one inside. With the kids. Who I am inside with every day of the week. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. No sirree. No complaining. Just saying. My job isn't easy either.

For review. This is what our backyard used to look like.

Oh, sweet pool. We had some good days. Swimming, frolicking, sunbathing in my smokin' hot pre-pregnancy body. We had lots of not good days too. Ones filled with moss and green water and yucky mildewy ickiness. And in the end we had to let you go because we had a child who threatened to fall in at every moment. Plus, I didn't have a smokin' hot body anymore, so what good were you? Sorry.

So, in the spring of 2006 (that's right...the year of our Lord, two-thousand SIX), we ripped it out.

Of course, by "we" I mean Jason, his dad, and his uncle. I did my part by taking pictures, also equally as difficult.

We thought we would fix the backyard that summer, which would have made the most sense since most normal people would rather not have a big ugly pit in their backyard. But then there was the other house ordeal that tied up all our money. We hoped our tax-refund was going to help us out, but then that had to go to...yes, you guessed it...the other house ordeal. So we waited for Oprah to help us out, and when that didn't materialize we just waited.

Ah ha! The wait is over! Sort of.

There is still the issue of, you know, doing the work. But Jason and Sydney are getting it done. I know some folks like wood decks, but in these parts where it rains approximately 10 months out of the year, it takes some work keeping decks in good shape. My solution! No more wood decks! I want concrete! I want stones! I want to walk around in my barefeet without getting splinters so that I don't feel compelled to overuse exclamation points!

The decking to the left of the picture is gone now too, I just didn't get a picture of it because it's been dark and dreary around here for ages. But where all that dirt is? That's where the patio is going. And the area between the patio and the former-pool pit? That's where the retaining wall is going. And the former-pool pit? Probably grass.

I'm sure our neighbors are rejoicing almost as much as we are because they have had to look at this eye-sore of a backyard for more than 18 months. Every time I see them I feel compelled to apologize. As well as talk about what fun I have with my kids just so they know we aren't terrible parents and didn't sell our pool for meth or something. "We're teachers," I chatter on. "We go to church! And our house isn't full of 25 miniature poodles. That has to count for something. Would you like some chickpea chocolate chip cookies? "

Oddly enough, our neighbors don't seem to be around much these days. Funny.

Here's proof that I'm not just making empty promises about fixing our backyard. The Eagle Has Landed.

So, the first thing was to build a new shed in our side yard so we could get rid of the old shed in our backyard to make room for Sydney's play structure and a garden.

Jason had to hold onto the power tools or Sydney would run off with them. Power tools are so much fun.

And when the power drill's battery gets low, taking an ax to the old shed is good fun too. "I probably should be wearing eye goggles," he said as he swung the ax through the metal shed. "That'd be a good idea," I said.

As of this morning, all that junk has been hauled off, and Jason has begun digging out the area where the retaining wall is going. After that, there's more deck to be torn out before the paver stones get to go in, but we're making progress.

ROCK ON, little backyard. Rock on.

Comments

[the sister]

Yay! Maybe the neighbors will even start coming back. : )

[Leslie]

I am so jealous that you're working on your backyard! Ours has been a work in progress for 3 years now, so I know what you're going through.

There is a really cool rock place over in West that has flag stone, and tons of other types of rock. It's called Pumilite and the rock is CHEAP! We ordered 4 pallets a couple of months ago for some landscape work.

[Jeri]

love your plant comments...as I said...I will live vicariously through you on the backyard project...
I think it may be the actual work part that stops me
from moving in that direction.

[Stout]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[gretchen from lifenut]

I am dying over "sexy man with an ax"---a lot of interesting Google searches are going to land here.

I can't wait to see the "after" pictures. I was always secretly hoping Oprah would come through for you. Oh well. It's going to look awesome, I can just tell.

[becca banana]

I love the photo labels.

What a great husband! Your plans sound wonderful and it will look great!

[Megan]

I love the "sexy man with an ax" label, Stephanie. I hope you showed that to him. Haha.

[Margaret]

Wow--I'm so glad that it's coming together, and will be a back yard again. Better ambiance than a pit.

[Marilyn]

What a great (and fun!) post! (Okay, that was only two exclamation points...but I'm sure more will follow!) :)